This invention relates to the field of computer systems and networking. More particularly, a system and methods are provided for routing network traffic through fault zones.
Routing of packets and/or other electronic communications through a network depends upon accurate routing. Network nodes that perform routing (e.g., switches, routers) usually maintain routing tables indicating how to route a communication addressed to a particular node.
In order to improve performance of the network, multiple paths to a given destination node may be available. The path traveled by a communication to the destination node may depend upon factors such as network congestion, which network links are functional or nonfunctional, the cost of traversing a particular path, and/or other factors. However, existing networks do not make efficient routing decisions based on how many current paths traverse particular network components or links (e.g., switches, wireless links). In particular, existing networks typically do not consider or promote the distribution of paths among different fault zones.
Also, in many network architectures (e.g., TCP/IP networks such as the Internet), the construction of routing tables is distributed among multiple nodes. Because of this distribution of labor, routing algorithms must be relatively simple so that each node is capable of performing them without impacting network traffic.